Relationship between Bathing Habits and Physical and Psychological State / 日本温泉気候物理医学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

Background: Bathing is an important behavior for keeping the body clean and is one of the habits of daily life. Among other things, bathing is regarded as a means of relieving fatigue, refreshing oneself, benefiting health, and improving sleep. As such it can be considered a health-maintaining activity. Apart from a previous study by the authors, there has been very little research on the relationship between home bathing habits and health. Objective: The aim of this study was, therefore, to clarify how physical and mental health relate to daily bathing in the home, particularly the habit of full bath immersion. Method: The participants were 198 employees of a quasi-drug manufacturing company and their family members who could and cooperated in the present study. The study was conducted as a self-report survey from October 1-30, 2010, with questionnaires being distributed to and collected from subjects before and after this period. Participants were asked about their sex, age, frequency of bathing per week, frequency of use of bath additives per week, temperature of bath water, bathing duration, and water level when in the bath, health, and sleep quality. Health was assessed using the Profile of Mood States (POMS) inventory, and self-rated health and quality of sleep were assessed using a Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Results: Among bathing habits, the group with a high bath frequency had significantly low scores for tension-anxiety and depression-dejection mood scales, and significantly high self-rated health. In the present study, self-rated health and quality of sleep were significantly better in the group who frequently used bath additives. In the full bath group, Fatigue score was significantly low and self-rated health and quality of sleep scores were significantly high. Discussion and Conclusion: Taking a full bath frequently and frequent use of bath additives are bathing habits that increase physical and psychological health in the middle-aged.